Is Your Memory Playing Tricks on You? Remember This.

TEDxCanberra - Ash Donaldson - Cognitive dissonance

Have you ever gone to a family reunion? This is the part that I never understood. I have 5 brothers and sisters and we grew up in the plains states on a farm. Every body starts talking around the dinner table and some of those child hood memories are barely recognizable. You find yourself thinking, "That's not the way it happened. You're making up stuff. Your memory is playing tricks on you!" Well, it turns out maybe I was making up stuff, too. As a matter of fact, every one at the table that was a participant in the event, remembers it different. Totally different in some scenarios. Ash Donaldson explains how our minds build belief and then breaks it down, showing us how and why humans are fooled into believing that things like Power Bands, anti-aging treatments and supplements actually work. Ash starts the video by sharing an experience while training for his private pilots license. … [Read more...]

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Steven Pressfield - The War of Art

I've never read a self help book that wasn't fatuous, obvious and unhelpful. Until The War of Art. It's amazingly cogent and smart on the psychology of creation. If I ever teach a writing course this would be one of the first books I'd assign, along with the letters of Flannery O'Connor. —Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City and Brightness Falls A vital gem . . . a kick in the ass. —Esquire [This excerpt starts at the book's very beginning and continues through the opening few chapters.] 1. WHAT I DO I get up, take a shower, have breakfast. I read the paper, brush my teeth. If I have phone calls to make, I make them. I've got my coffee now. I put on my lucky work boots and stitch up the lucky laces that my niece Meredith gave me. I head back to my office, crank up the computer. My lucky hooded sweatshirt is draped over the chair, with the lucky … [Read more...]

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing

http://www.ted.com 2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference. The world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as … [Read more...]

Defend our freedom to share (or why SOPA/PIPA is a bad idea)

Clay Shirky I study the effects of the internet on society.

The video in this post is from the wonderful people at TED.com and explains why a free nation cannot have SOPA/PIPA to control the 'net. Clay Shirky does a very good job. The text in this post is from Seth Godin and the Domino Project. I'm a big fan of both and Seth tied his post with a reference to Clay Shirky's Ted talk. Please watch the video and read Seth's comments. It is that important. If this legislation passes, I cannot do this at all. The ideas will die on the vine. Seth Godin | Knock, knock, it’s the future (Building 59) Why not ban digital cameras? Kodak declared bankruptcy this week. Legislation to ban digital cameras could have saved this company, a “jobs creator,” pillar of the community and long-time wonderful brand. One wonders why they didn’t make the effort? Would you have lobbied for that bill? A friend tells a story about Kodak. Apparently, … [Read more...]

Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less

Double Double: How to Double Your Revenue and Profit in 3 Years or Less

How do you double your revenue and profit in 3 years or less? Cameron Herold puts all the pieces in place in this best seller for any business person. Whether you are established or a new start-up, this is a book that will put money in your pocket. Cameron Herold puts you on the fast track with a detailed road map to grow your business quickly. Double Double is a no nonsense approach to a successful thriving business. From the Book: The goal of doubling your company’s size in three years is easy to accept. Who wouldn’t want to do that? But accepting this goal and realizing it are two different things. To achieve it, you need to prepare for fast growth. And to do that, you need to develop a detailed vision of the future. Many people create goals for the future but don’t really have a vision of what their company will look like at that point. If revenue is supposed to triple … [Read more...]

The Lean Startup | Eric Ries

The Lean Startup

Do one important thing: make better, faster business decisions. Vastly better, faster business decisions. Bringing principles from lean manufacturing and agile development to the process of innovation, The Lean Startup helps companies succeed in a business landscape riddled with risk. This book shows you how. How The Book is Organized: Vision Vision makes the case for a new discipline of entrepreneurial management. Identify who is an entrepreneur. Define a startup. Articulate a new way for startups to gauge if they are making progress. It's called validated learning. To achieve that learning, we'll see that startups can use scientific experimentation to discover how to build a sustainable business. Steer Steer dives into the Lean Startup method in detail. Steer shows one major turn through the core Build- Measure- Learn feedback loop. Beginning with leap-of-faith … [Read more...]

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields

"Have you ever experienced flashes of creative insight through the collision of ideas?" Jonathan Fields. I have read this book through the first time and about half way through it again. This is one of those books that has so much information for the entrepreneur or musician or any one involved in creation. Fields talks about developing a routine to enable you to lean into uncertainty, work habits to get the most without burnout and how to be a good parent and a decent human being. Read the book. You will thank me. … [Read more...]